A. R. Rahman

Allah Rakha Rahman (Tamil: ஏ. ஆர். ரஹ்மான்; * 6 January 1966 in Madras, now Chennai) is an Indian composer and singer. He writes film and light music.

Live

He is a big star in India and his concerts are very well attended. Particularly well-known songs are those he has composed for Hindi films and Tamil films.

He created the music for the musical Bombay Dreams and collaborated with the English lyricist Don Black. It was very well received in London, but ran out in 2005. It was also performed on Broadway after its London success.

A. R. Rahman was born a Hindu and converted to Islam in 1989. In the process, he changed his name A. S. Dileep Kumar to A. R. Rahman.

For the Commonwealth Games 2010 taking place in New Delhi, A. R. Rahman composed the official song Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto.

Awards

A. R. Rahman is a multiple winner of the National Film Award, the Filmfare Awards South, Filmfare Award, Star Screen Award, ZeeCine Award and the IIFA Award. In 2009, he won the Golden Globe Award, the British Academy Film Award and two Oscars and two Grammys each for Best Film Score and Best Film Song (together with Gulzar for Jai Ho) for the score of the international co-production Slumdog Millionaire. After the huge success of the film, both his film soundtrack and several songs from it entered the charts.

In 2010, he was honoured with a Padma Bhushan. A year later, Rahman received another Golden Globe and two Oscar nominations for the film's score and the song If I Rise for Danny Boyle's drama 127 Hours (2010).

In 2011, the World Economic Forum in Davos awarded Rahman, along with Robert De Niro and José Carreras, the Crystal Prize for their "creative response to the world's challenges". Rahman was honored primarily for his commitment to hungry and underprivileged children, whom he supports with the help of the A R Rahman Foundation.